The same week that a city task force presented Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake with a plan to tackle HIV infections in Baltimore, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched its own campaign to increase HIV testing.

The campaign, called Testing Makes Us Stronger, targets black gay and bisexual men, one of the most affected populations. The federal agency worked with community leaders, doctors and others to develop the program that aims to increase awareness, increase access and boost testing. Once they know they are infected, they can be treated and take steps to prevent infection of others.

The campaign includes national print, online and transit ads, a website and Facebook page, promotion at events -- in six heavily impacts cities including Baltimore. The others are Atlanta. Houston. New York. Oakland, Calif., and Washington.

The CDC has also released data ahead of World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, which shows nearly three out of four Americans infected with HIV don’t have it under control. That’s largely because one in five don’t know they are infected. Of those who do know, about half receive ongoing medical care.

There are about 1.2 million people living with HIV in the country and about 28 percent have a suppressed viral load, meaning they are healthy and a low risk of transmitting the virus.

Treatment, however, is effective. The CDC reports that of those in ongoing care, 77 percent have suppressed levels of virus.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: HIV/AIDS
        

This week's recipe comes from the Mayo Clinic.

If you have recipes you'd like to share please send them to andrea.walker@baltsun.com. You can find other healthy recipes here.

Hope you enjoy this one.

Dietitian's tip: This hearty main dish can be prepared ahead, refrigerated and baked later. Add the timesaving "no-boil" noodles directly to the dish.

By Mayo Clinic staff

Serves 8

Ingredients 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose (plain) flour

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup plain soy milk (soya milk)

1 cup vegetable stock

2 green (spring) onions, including tender green tops, sliced

1/2 cup dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in water to rehydrate, drained and chopped

10 ounces fresh cremini or shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 shallot, minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 cups baby spinach leaves, chopped

 2 cups fat-free ricotta cheese

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg white

12 no-boil spinach lasagna sheets, about 7 by 3 1/2 inches

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

 Directions

In a saucepan, heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the garlic and continue to whisk until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Whisk in the soy milk and stock all at once. Cook and stir until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the green onions and sun-dried tomatoes. Set the sauce aside. In a large nonstick frying pan, heat 1 teaspoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and shallot and saute until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in the parsley and salt. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool. In the same pan, heat the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the spinach and stir quickly until the spinach is wilted but still bright green. Remove from the heat. Let cool slightly. In a large bowl, beat together the ricotta, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan and the egg white. Stir in the spinach and set aside. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1/2 cup of the sauce in the dish and cover with 3 sheets of the pasta. Spoon half of the spinach mixture onto the pasta and spread gently. Cover with 3 more pasta sheets. Top with another 1/2 cup of sauce. Spread the mushroom mixture on top and cover with another 1/2 cup of sauce, then another layer of pasta. Spoon in the remaining spinach filling and top with the last 3 pasta sheets. Add the remaining sauce and the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. Cover loosely with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until golden, about 10 minutes longer. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with the basil.

Nutritional Analysis(per serving)

Calories 288 Monounsaturated fat 4 g Protein 17 g Cholesterol 6 mg Carbohydrate 39 g Sodium 526 mg Total fat 8 g Fiber 4 g Saturated fat 2 g

Posted by Andrea Walker at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Healthy Recipes
        

A small collection of blood thinners and diabetes medication cause two-thirds of emergency hospitalizations in older Americans, a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

Officials say each year there are nearly 100,000 emergency hospitalizations for adverse drug events among seniors, and they are trying to identifying which drugs are most likely to lead to overdoses or cause an unintended effect on the patient.

“These data suggest that focusing safety initiatives on a few medicines that commonly cause serious, measurable harms can improve care for many older Americans,” said Dr. Dan Budnitz, director of CDC’s Medication Safety Program, in a statement. “Blood thinners and diabetes medicines often require blood testing and dosing changes, but these are critical medicines for older adults with certain medical conditions. Doctors and patients should continue to use these medications but remember to work together to safely manage them.”

Authors of the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at data from 58 hospitals participating in the CDC’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project between 2007 and 2009.

Those aged 80 and older suffered almost half of the adverse drug events and two-thirds were due to overdoses or unintended effects of normal doses. Four drugs, alone or together, accounted for two-thirds of the hospitalizations: warfarin for blood clots (33 percent), insulins to control blood sugar in diabetics (14 percent), antiplatelets such as aspirin to prevent clots (13 percent) and oral hypoglycemic agents for diabetes (11 percent).

For more information about programs to reduce adverse drug events, go to  www.cdc.gov/medicationsafety.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diabetes, Drugs
        

The University of Maryland School of Medicine has created a research institute that will focus on turning what scientists discover in the lab to ways to help treat health conditions.

The Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute will target health disparities among underserved populations.

“Under the institute, basic science research will develop rapidly into novel therapies that can prevent the occurrence of common chronic diseases prevalent in our region, our country, and around the world," University of Maryland School of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece said in a statement.

The CTSI will focus on six research areas: diabetes, heart disease, cancer, infectious and inflammatory diseases, schizophrenia and head injury.

Researchers and scientists from the medical system will collaborate with those from the University System of Maryland. There will also be collaboration with the University of Maryland schools of dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, law and social work. The institute will also work closely with the community.

The new institute will be led by co-directors Dr. Alan R. Shuldiner and Stephen Davis. Shuldiner is the John L. Whitehurst Professor of Medicine and associate dean for Personalized and Genomic Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Davis is the Dr. Theodore E. Woodward Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

The GE Foundation has awarded $1.6 million to global health nonprofit Jhpiego to develop low-cost technologies to treat women and children in developing countries.

The money will support a two-year collaboration between Jhpiego, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins, and the Johns Hopkins Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design (JHU-CBID), which is located in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

The collaboration will focus on a program centered on maternal and child health. The program includes early-stage innovation of products, field-testing and introduction to the market.

An example of such a technology is the ePartogram, a “smart” device now in development that automates the manual charting of labor and delivery information. The device helps monitor a woman in labor and recognize complications early. The technology will undergo feasibility testing for safety, acceptability and effectiveness with GE Foundation support.

The GE Foundation will also support the Global Health Innovation Fellowship Program, a collaboration between Jhpiego and CBID that fosters the development of young engineers who are interested in global health technology innovation.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Public health
        

Have hip pain or soreness from degeneration or injury?

Sinai Hospital is offering free hip screenings Dec. 1 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at its Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics, 2401 West belvedere Ave, 5th Floor.

The evaluations will be performed by Dr. Michael Mont, an orthopedic surgeon and director of joint preservation and reconstruction.

To register or get more information, call 410-601-9355.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Cooking heart-healthy food isn’t so hard if you know how.

So, the American Heart Association is offering free classes to encourage people to cook low-cost, heart-healthy meals at home.

The demonstrations will be offered Nov. 29 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Baltimore International Culinary College, 210 S. Central Ave. in Baltimore. There will be free parking, prizes, cookbooks and tastings.

To RSVP, contact Faye Brooks at 410-637-4534 by Tuesday. For more information, here’s the website.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cardiovascular Health
        

The Maryland Health Care Commission released its 2011 quality report on health insurance plans in the state and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States came out on top.

The report includes quality and customer satisfaction information in 22 areas in four categories including primary care, chronic care, behavioral health and member satisfaction.

Kaiser had scores above the state average on 14 of 22 measures, and included the high marks in all four categories. CIGNA HealthCare Mid-Atlantic had eight above the state average and all other plans had four or fewer scores above the state average.

Kaiser has also performed well on past reviews.

Maryland’s HMOs performed at or better than the regional average on 13 of 22 measures, and Ben Steffen, acting executive director of the commission, said many plans can point to some strong performance. But he said the overall scores show that the health maintenance organizations and the point of service plans need to up their efforts.

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, secretary for health and mental hygiene, said in a statement, “The report contains important information on health plan quality and our new state initiatives on advanced primary care, health information technology and employer wellness that will be beneficial to employers and employees.”

See the whole report at www.mhcc.maryland.gov.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Business of health
        

Black Friday is coming, and the consumer organization Maryland Public Interest Research Group wants shoppers to avoid the dangerous toys.

In its 26th annual Trouble in Toyland report, the group says its lab testing has found choking and noise hazards, as well as many times the allowable limits of lead and phthalates, which can have adverse health impacts on growing kids.

“Choking on small parts, small balls and balloons is still a leading cause of toy-related injury. Between 1990 and 2009 over 200 children have died,” said Maryland PIRG’s Jenny Levin in a statement. “While most toys are safe, our researchers still found toys on the shelves that pose choking hazards and other toys that contain hazardous levels of toxic chemicals including lead.”
PIRG is offering tips for safe toy shopping on its website, www.toysafety.mobi.

Some of the toys that could pose problems are blocks, dolls and backpacks with popular characters on them.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission also has a list of potential hazards and recalled products at saferproducts.gov.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Today we welcome guest blogger Hanah Cho, a business reporter at The Sun. She attended the Gerontological Society of America conference as a 2011-2012 Metlife Foundation Journalists in Aging Fellows Program, a project of GSA and New America Media.

Do you have a relative or know someone who’s 100 years old or older?
 
A unique scientific competition is seeking centenarians from around the globe who are willing to donate their DNA. 

The Archon Genomics X Prize will award $10 million to the first team that can sequence human genomes of 100 centenarians accurately and economically in a 30-day competition that begins in January.

The goal is to develop a “medical-grade” genome standard that can be used for broad clinical applications to improve patient diagnosis and treatment, said Dr. Larry Kedes, the scientific director and senior advisor for the X Prize Foundation, at a news conference this week at the Gerontological Society of America meeting.

Why centenarians?

Thomas Perls, director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University School of Medicine, who has been studying centenarians since 1995, says they are a “important and interesting model for healthier aging.”

Consider that among centenarians, the average age they experience an onset of a disability is 93, Perls says. And if they are afflicted with age-related diseases, they deal with them much better than the general population, Perls added.

Moreover, the closer these centenarians get to 105 to 110 years old, the “more you compress the time you are sick towards the end of life,” Perls said.

By sequencing the genomes of 100 centenarians, researchers say they have an opportunity to identify and gain insights into longevity genes.

“If we understand how people age slower and we have strategies to delay it, we’ll have a huge impact on the onset of age-related diseases and quality of life,” said Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute of Aging at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

There is also a Maryland connection to this competition.

J. Craig Venter Institute, headed by the namesake gene researcher, is based in Rockville and is a partner in the competition.

So is Gaithersburg-based EdgeBio, a life technology and DNA sequencing company.  The X Prize has also created an online community of centenarians who are sharing their remarkable stories.

Maybe there is  Maryland-based centenarian out there?

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Guest post
        

You may want to consider a Mediterranean Thanksgiving.

A new study from Johns Hopkins affirms that a diet made with unsaturated fat from avocados, olive oil and nuts improves heart health.

“The introduction of the right kind of fat into a healthy diet is another tool to reduce the risk of future heart disease,” said Dr. Meghana Gadgil, a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of General Internal Medicine in Hopkins School of Medicine who presented research at the American Heart Association’s scientific sessions in Orlando recently.

Gadgil and her colleagues looked at three balanced diets on 164 people with mild hypertension but no diabetes. They compared the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar and maintain healthy insulin levels while on a Mediterranean diet, on a protein-rich diet and on a carbohydrate-rich diet. They kept everyone at their starting weight.

The unsaturated fats in the Mediterranean diet improved insulin use significantly more than the carb-heavy diet, which included white bread and pasta.

“A lot of studies have looked at how the body becomes better at using insulin when you lose weight,” Gadgil said. “We kept the weight stable so we could isolate the effects of the macronutrients. What we found is that you can begin to see a beneficial impact on heart health even before weight loss.”

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Let’s talk about sex …. among older married individuals.

New research released at the Gerontological Society of America meeting found that the more often older married people engage in sexual activity, the more likely they are to be happy in their lives and in their marriage.

Seems like a no brainer, right?

 Adrienne Jackson, an assistant professor at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, said the study is important because it can help open up dialogue between healthcare providers and older Americans on barriers that may limit and prevent older adults from engaging from sexual activity.

Some gerontologists say many doctors do not broach this issue with their older patients. Creating awareness of the issue can help develop sexual health interventions for the aging population, Jackson said.

Jackson’s findings were based on a 2004-2008 public opinion poll of a nationally representative sample of English and Spanish-speaking adults living in the U.S. Based on the responses of 238 married individuals 65 and older, Jackson found frequency of sexual activity was a “significant predictor” of both general and marital happiness.

Here are some of the findings:

Forty percent who reported no sexual activity in the last 12 months said they were very happy with life in general. 

Sixty percent who had sex more than once a month said they were very happy.

About 59 percent who reported no sexual activity during the same time period said they were very happy with their marriage 

Eighty percent who had sex more than once a month said they were very happy with their marriage.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cardiovascular Health
        

Today we welcome guest blogger Hanah Cho, a business reporter at The Sun. She attended the Gerontological Society of America conference as a 2011-2012 Metlife Foundation Journalists in Aging Fellows Program, a project of GSA and New America. She tell us how to live well into old age.

Meet Saburo Shochi.

He is 105.

His lifespan is a remarkable feat considering the average life expectancy for the U.S. population is 77.9, according to the U.S. Census.

I met Shochi at The Gerontological Society of America conference in Boston this past weekend, where he was sharing his life story as well as his daily routine for maintaining good health. Listening to gerontologists and researchers who study centenarians, I was struck by how many of us can reach the mid-80s by maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Based on studies, gerontologists believe that about 70 percent of our lifespan is due to the environment or nature, while the remaining 30 percent is genes, said Dr. Thomas T. Perls, director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University School of Medicine. Perls points to a results from a study of Seventh Day Adventists at Loma Linda University in California – which found that the group has the highest life expectancy of 88 years old.

Their healthy lifestyle is mostly dictated by their religion, which prohibits Seventh Adventists from drinking and smoking. They also exercise regularly, eat in moderation and many are vegetarians, Perls said. Seventh Adventists also have a strong social network of family and friends that may help them manage stress well, Perls added.

“They’re living about six to seven years more than the rest of us. Clearly the reasons are the healthy behaviors,” Perls said. “That says to me everyone in the room has the opportunity to get to 86 as men and 89 as women.”

Here is where nature vs. nurture gets trickier.

“To live an additional 10 or even 20 years beyond age 90 is when we see the growing importance of genetic variance,” Perls said.

That’s why Perls and other researchers study centenarians so that they could identify and better understand genetic – and lifestyle -- factors associated with what gerontologists call exceptional longevity.

Perhaps one of the best-known groups of centenarians is the elderly Okinawans. Dr. Bradley Willcox, one of the lead researchers of the Okinawa Centenarian Study, says both “genetic and nutritional factors act together” to contribute to their longevity.

 “One of the reason they live so long is they’re a naturally caloric restricted population,” Willcox said. Older Okinawans’ diet consists of mostly vegetables, tofu and lots of sweet potato for “optimal nutrition,” Willcox said.

Besides eating well, researchers have found other lifestyle commonalities among centenarians: They include exercising or maintaining an active lifestyle; having a strong social network; and having the right outlook or life purpose.

 Dr. Shochi’s routine for his good health follows a similar path. He exercises regularly using a baton. He keeps his mind sharp by keeping a diary in a foreign language as well as learning other language via a radio course. He also chews each mouthful of food 30 times, a practice he learned from his mother. He also follows two additional steps: Rubs down his body with a cold wet towel and sleeps in a special hard mattress.

Shochi continues to travel around the world so that he could share his knowledge and learn from others, Taketoshi Koga, one of his traveling companions, said through a Japanese interpreter.

 For additional information resources, check out National Geographic writer Dan Buettner’s research on five Blue Zones, or communities around the globe that have the world’s highest life expectancy.

Also check out The Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator, which uses the medical and scientific data to estimate your lifespan.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: geriatrics
        

Breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure is providing $2 million to two Maryland institutions for research in breast cancer issues, including why African American breast cancer patients develop heart problems. 

The money will also be used to help develop more personalized treatment strategies for women with an aggressive form of breast cancer.

The grants to Johns Hopkins University and Mercy Medical Center were announced Thursday. They are among four that Komen for the Cure is funding in Maryland this year, and part of Komen's $66 million investment in new research, patient support and scientific conferences this year.

Komen has spent more than $685 million for breast cancer research in its 29 years, making it the largest non-profit funder of breast cancer research outside of the federal government. 

 At Mercy Medical Center, almost $450,000 is being granted to a team led by Lisa Gallicchio to study why African American breast cancer patients may be more likely to develop heart problems after being treated with a class of drugs known as aromatase inhibitors. Kathy Helzlsouer, also at Mercy, will receive almost $600,000 to develop a web-based program to remind breast cancer patients about upcoming treatments and to better manage their symptoms.

 At Johns Hopkins, Christopher Umbricht will use a $600,000 Komen grant to find better ways to identify patients who are most likely to respond to chemotherapy as they fight triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease. Another $180,000 grant to Gregg Semenza, and Daniele Gilkes will be used to study whether dense breast tissue is a cause or a consequence of breast cancer, and whether and how breast density contributes to cancer's spread.

"These grants may help us find better treatments, while also ensuring that breast cancer patients are meaningfully followed during their treatment," Komen President Elizabeth Thompson said in a statement. "They tie squarely to our mission to fund cutting-edge breast cancer research along the entire cancer continuum -- from prevention to early diagnostics, disparities in outcomes, more effective treatments, and answers for aggressive and metastatic disease. "

Posted by Andrea Walker at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cancer
        

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has expanded its electronic tracking of antibiotic use from doctors’ offices to hospitals. The aim is to improve use and allow hospitals to compare themselves to others.

Some officials say up to half of antibiotic use is unnecessary. And it allows germs to evolve and become resistant, meaning there are no treatments for some infections. Also, some patients among the millions who take antibiotics every year have allergic reactions and other side effects.

“Hospitals and other health care facilities should monitor the antibiotics used in their facilities,” said Dr. Thomas R. Freiden, CDC director, in a statement. “This new system is a powerful tool that will enhance providers’ ability to monitor and improve patterns of antibiotic use so that these essential drugs will still be effective in the years to come.”

The new tracking system is part of the agency’s National Healthcare Safety Network, which is used to monitor infections in more than 4,800 hospitals. CDC is paying for four health departments and their academic partners to implement tracking in 70 hospitals. Other hospitals can gain access through their pharmacy software and the drugs’ barcodes.

The announcement comes during Get Smart About Antibiotics Week, an educational campaign.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Drugs
        

I am thinking about all the good eating I will be doing next week for Thanksigiving.

It inspired me to post a Thanksgiving-like recipe this week.

This recipe was taken from Men's Health and includes all the classic staples of the day.

 Try it out and tell us what you think.

We'd also like to get your recipes. Send them to meredith.cohn@baltsun.com or andrea.walker@baltsun.com. We'll give you credit on the blog.

You can find more healthy recipes here.

Turkey, Sweet Potato, and Cranberry Stew

Ingredients 3 lb turkey drumsticks, skin removed

1 sm onion, diced

 1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp cider vinegar

1 1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 C chicken stock (we used Kitchen Basics)

1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in 1" chunks

1/2 C dried cranberries

2 tbsp flour 

 Directions 1. Combine turkey, onion, honey, vinegar, ginger, salt, pepper, and stock in large slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 5 hours. add potatoes and cranberries. Cook until potatoes are tender, 45 minutes more. 2. Remove turkey and pull meat from bones. pour one-quarter of the liquid into small pot and whisk in flour until smooth. slowly whisk in remaining liquid. 3. Toss meat, potatoes, and cranberries with gravy and reheat if necessary.

Nutritional Facts per serving CALORIES 646.3, CAL FAT 22.1 G, SATURATED FAT 4.2 G, CHOLESTEROL 297.4 MG, SODIUM 1148.9 MG, CARBOHYDRATES 41.8 G, TOTAL SUGARS 21.1 G, DIETARY FIBER 4.9 G, PROTEIN 66.7 G

Posted by Andrea Walker at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Healthy Recipes
        

Three youth advocacy groups are launching an effort to educate the public about the importance of oral health and to encourage communities to adopt stronger preventive measures.

Voices for America’s Children, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Pew Children’s Dental Campaign say specifically that communities should push for water fluoridation.

In many states, including Maryland, the population is virtually covered. But in neighboring Pennsylvania, for example, just over 54 percent of residents live in homes connected to public water systems with fluoridated water.

Officials in some communities have lobbied against the additive because they fear excess amounts have health repercussions or cost too much. Fluoride comes naturally in water and they don’t want public systems adding more.

But the groups behind the new Campaign for Dental Health say science is on their side and many dental groups back them up, including the American Dental Association and the Institute of Medicine. They’ve launched a website called iLikeMyTeeth.org.

They point out that 45 million Americans lack dental insurance, and dental problems can hinder health and development. Just over 72 percent of Americans live in homes with fluoridated water, according to the groups. In nine states less than half the population get the additive: Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Louisana, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon and Wyoming.

“Although children’s teeth are healthier overall than they were decades ago, we still have a long way to go,” said Bill Bentley, president and chief executive of Voices for America’s Children, in a statement. “A study last year showed that nearly one out of seven young children aged 6 to 12 had suffered a toothache in the previous six months. In a single year, more than 500,000 California children missed at least one day of school due to a dental problem. Communities should not deprive children of fluoridated water, which is a proven way to fight tooth decay.”

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Oral Health
        

Officials from a health care advocacy group have presented something of a road map to the state leaders at the Maryland Health Exchange Board, whose members are working to implement the national health care reform law.

The Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative officials say the plan would make health care more affordable.

They also pledged to help get the state officials new legal authority to implement some of the suggestions – the state legislature will be defining the board’s duties more clearly during the next session.

The proposal was supported by documents prepared by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Center for Medical Technology Policy, and America’s Agenda.

“We are proposing policies to the exchange board which will help to make quality health care affordable for all Marylanders,’ said Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative.

“We want the Board to have maximum flexibility to use proven methods such as active purchasing and selective contracting as well as encouraging primary care medical homes that make health care more affordable,” he said. “We will mobilize the over 1200 faith, community, labor, business and health care groups in our statewide coalition to support legislation to give the board this authority.”

DeMarco also pushed the idea of upping the state tobacco tax to help fund some initiatives.

The extensive proposal can be viewed here.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 6:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Health care reform
        

A new health institute announced today by the University of Maryland and state health officials will look at ways to reduce chronic diseases throughout the state.

The Institute for a Healthiest Maryland will look at fighting health problems such as obesity prevention, tobacco cessation, hypertension and high cholesterol through policy changes and programming.

Plans for the institute, which will work closely with local health departments, were unveiled this afternoon at a two-day summit on Childhood Obesity being held at the Hilton Baltimore Hotel.

The institute's advisory board will be co-chaired by Maryland Health Secretary Joshua M. Sharfstein and Dr. Jay A. Perman, president of the University of Maryland.

"The institute will bring energy and expertise from across the University of Maryland to bear on some of our state's toughest public health challenges," Sharfstein said in a statement. "Individuals, families and communities across the state will benefit."

The institute is being created using some funds from a five-year $9.5 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

All children should be tested for high cholesterol between the ages of 9 and 11 even if they don't have a family history of the disease, according to new health guideines.

The guidelines, released by the and the American Academy of Pediatrics said that students should be tested again between the ages of 17 and 21 years of age.

The two medical groups are trying to prevent the disease, that is inflicting more of the nation's population, at an early age.

“By working with families, we can keep kids at a lower lifetime risk and prevent more serious problems in adulthood," Dr. Stephen R. Daniels, chairman of the panel responsible for the guidelines, wrote in the report.

Previous guidelines only recommended screening children with a family history of high cholesterol and heart disease. The panel also recommended that doctors use a test that doesn't require kids to fast.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Pediatrics
        

**UPDATE: Gov. Martin O'Malley responds to the Supreme Court's decision to review the Affordable Care Act. 

As expected, the Supreme Court has agreed this morning to hear a case on the national health care reform law.

The main issue has been the mandate that all Americans buy health insurance or face a fine. Supporters say this is a critical piece of the law because is spreads risk around and controls premiums. Opponents say this is unconstitutional and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals was the only appeals court to agree.

The Supreme Court also plans to hear a challenge to the expansion of Medicaid, the health program for the poor. Some states objected, though the federal government would pick up the bulk of the costs.

Ron Pollack, the executive director of the consumer health organization Families USA, said reversing the expansion would jeopardize health care to millions at a time when it’s needed most. But he did welcome review of the lower court’s decision on the constitutionality of the mandate to buy insurance.

“The individual responsibility provision is designed to make sure that people who can afford to purchase insurance do so, rather than passing their health care costs onto everyone else,” he said.

On the other side, Michael A. Needham, chief executive of the Heritage Action for America,  “We are hopeful America’s system of checks and balances will right this unprecedented wrong and overturn Obamacare in its entirety. At the same time, however, Heritage Action will continue to push Congress to repeal Obamacare in its entirety because the stakes are too high to put all our eggs in one basket.”

This Tribune story says a decision could come in June.

*Here's O'Malley's statement:

“In Maryland, over the past five years, we have expanded health care coverage to 290,000 previously uninsured Marylanders, 135,000 of them children. And thanks to President Obama’s leadership, the Affordable Care Act would save our State nearly $830 million over the next 10 years and provide coverage to nearly 400,000 Marylanders.

“We welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to consider the challenges to the Affordable Care Act. The Court should uphold the law, and achieving certainty will be of benefit to states’ implementation efforts. In the meantime, it is the law of the land, and we will continue our work to ensure that our State is on track to have an operational health benefit exchange by 2014 and prepared to bring the full benefits of health care reform to all Marylanders.”

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Health care reform
        

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has been awarded $16 million from the National Institutes of Health to create a global center to address the childhood obesity epidemic.

The Global Center for Childhood Obesity will bring together basic science, epidemiology, nutrition, medicine, engineering and environmental and social policy research and other fields to look at the issue in a multi-disciplinary way.

The program will be based at the Bloomberg School of Public Health where researchers will work with scientists at the NIH. Faculty from five other Hopkins schools will also work at the center, including the Whiting School of Engineering, School of Medicine, School of Nursing and the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

The $16 million grant, provided by the NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research will fund research and training over the next five years. The Johns Hopkins University and several other institutions are providing an additional $4 million in funding support.

University of Maryland also recently announced an iniaitive to fight childhood obesity.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 7:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

American Chemical Society is reporting that scientists have successfully tested a sensor that can measure blood sugar levels from tears instead of blood, an advancement that could save diabetics from having to prick their fingers over and over.

The scientists say about 5 percent of the world’s population, which amounts to 26 million people in the United States, have diabetes and the number is growing.

Many of them now have to collect a blood drop multiple times a day and check it. The pain could be enough to discourage testing, said Mark Meyerhoff, a chemical professor at the University of Michigan.

That’s why he and others began looking for an alternative, a sensor they’ve tested on rabbits.

“Thus, it may be possible to measure tear glucose levels multiple times per day to monitor blood glucose changes without the potential pain from the repeated invasive blood drawing method,” said the researcher in a report that is published in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

AFP/Getty photo

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diabetes
        

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have uncovered the path that breast cancer takes to the lungs, information that could lead to therapies to block metastases responsible for 90 percent of breast cancer deaths.

“Metastasis transforms breast cancer from a local, curable disease, to one that is systemic and lethal,” said Dr. Gregg L. Semenza, director of the Vascular Program in the Institute for Cell Engineering, in a statement. “Metastasis was long thought a late event in cancer progression, but we have now shown metastasis to be an early event that is dependent on HIF-1.”

The HIF-1 protein, which Semenza and a team discovered two decades ago, controls the genes that enable cells to survive in tumors where there is low oxygen. Other research has shown increased HIF-1 activity results in lower survival rates in those with breast cancer.

The findings are published in the Sept. 12 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science Early Edition and in the August 22 issue of Oncogene.

The researchers focused on the lung to trace the role HIF-1 plays in breast cancer metastasis.

They found the protein enabled breast cancer cells to produce enzymes that prepare the lung for cancer to spread. They also play a role in helping cancer cells travel to the lungs through blood vessels.

Semenza and other researchers also found that a medication used to treat irregular heartbeats can block HIF-1 production and can stop liver and prostate cancer cells from growing. They studied whether digitalis can do the same with metastatic breast cancer – and in mice, there were fewer and smaller tumors in the lungs.

Clinical trials could be next.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cancer
        

Johns Hopkins is hosting its 17th annual women’s health conference this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. at the Hilton Baltimore, 401 W. Pratt St.

The conference, A Woman’s Journey, usually attracts 1,000 women to hear Hopkins specialists discuss new medical treatments and provide information on diseases and health issues. There are 32 hour-long seminars in all.

Subjects include bone health, aging, heart disease and others.

On hand will be author and patient safety advocate Sorrel King, who plans to talk about a family’s tragic loss and it was used to improve safety. Dr. Peter Pronovost, Hopkins’ well-known patient safety expert and professor of critical care medicine, will introduce her.

Pronovost recently became director of the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. He has developed checklists used in Maryland and around the country to lower the number of central line infections.

The lunch speaker will be Christina Catlett, assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and associate director for Health System Preparedness at The Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response. She’ll talk about devastation in New Orleans and Haiti and other personal experiences.

For more information, go to www.hopkinsmedicine.org/awomansjourney or call 410-955-8660.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Healthy Living
        

Cancer is a tough topic, but one most everyone confronts at some time or another. But what is proper “cancer etiquette?” The Cancer Treatment Centers of America say everyone is different, and there are different approaches.

But the professionals there have come up with some basics about the subject:

+Don’t ignore someone with cancer just because you don’t know what to say. They advise using thoughts such as “I’m here for you,” or “I love you and we’ll get through this together,” or even “I dn’t know what to say.” A note saying “I’m thinking of you,” also appropriate.

+Listen without interrupting. A sympathetic ear is often appreciated. Or if no one wants to talk, just sit quietly.

+Become an advocate or more effective caregiver by participating in the conversation with the doctors. Bring a list of questions.

+Act normal. Talk about other things besides cancer.

+Take care of yourself so you’re in good shape emotionally and physically to offer support.

Anyone else have tips?

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cancer
        

Officials at The Federal Emergency Management Agency said they plan to conduct the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

The test will last about 30 seconds and will preempt all television, radio, cable and satellite shows across the United States, as compared to the local tests that most everyone has likely witnessed.
The agency wanted the public to be aware that it’s a test and not a real emergency.

“This first national test will ensure the readiness of the Emergency Alert System to deliver critical life-saving information,” said MaryAnn Tierney, FEMA Region III's regional administrator, in a statement.

The national Emergency Alert System provides information to the public during all kinds of emergencies and can be activated by the president. The test is a joint effort by FEMA, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The system can be used to provide local alerts as well as national ones.

For more information about becoming prepared, go to www.ready.gov.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: News roundup
        

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, is expected to lead a panel on disaster preparedness today at Johns Hopkins as part of the university’s speakers series.

The free public event will run from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and bring together other public health officials to discuss how planning for, and responding to, disease outbreaks has changed in today’s wired and technologically mobile society, according to Hopkins.

Officials said the topic was chosen partially because of the popularity of the film “Contagion,” a Hollywood version of a global disease outbreak.

Also part of the discussion will involve the real H1N1 flu outbreak in 2009, multi-drug resistant TB from 2007 and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in 2002-2003.

Also on the panel will be:

+Katherine Clegg Smith, a sociologist with expertise in how people respond during an outbreak to news and social media
+Jonathan Links, a Johns Hopkins medical physicist, and Baltimore City's pandemic and influenza planning advisor
+Joshua Epstein, an expert in social and behavioral computer modeling of disease outbreaks and their spread
+Dr. Khalil Ghanem, an internist and infectious disease specialist
+Atul Nakhasi, first-year Johns Hopkins medical student and chairperson of the Speaker series
+Dr. Tom Quinn, an infectious disease specialist and expert in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV/AIDS, as well as director of Johns Hopkins' Center for Global Health, and event moderator

The event will take place in the Anne and Mike Armstrong Medical Education Building at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1600 McElderry St., in Baltimore. Parking is available in the nearby McElderry Street Garage. Here is a campus map.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Public health
        

U.S. News is out with a list of the best diets, according to its panel of experts.

“Being on a diet doesn't always mean good things for your health. You want to make sure your new diet will provide enough calories and doesn't skimp on important nutrients or entire food groups,” the magazine says.

Experts took nutrition and safety into account and, out of 20 popular program, decided the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet was best. It also gets the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stamp of approval.

U.S. News also liked the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) Diet, the Mediterranean Diet and the Mayo Clinic Diet. Volumetrics Diet rounded out the Top 5. Some of the most popular diets from Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem were also ranked high, as was a vegetarian diet.

What works for you?

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Diet and exercise
        

The thousands of people waiting for a new kidney may find hope in a new study that finds older people can safely donate the organs.

Johns Hopkins doctors found that kidney transplants performed using organs from live donors over the age of 70 are safe for the donors and help save lives of those who recieve them.

Although the study found that kidneys from older donors were more likely to fail within ten years of transplant when compared with kidneys from donors ages 50 to 59, patients who received older donated kidneys were no more likely to die within a decade of transplantation than those whose kidney donors were between 50 and 59.

 “A lot of people come up to me and say, ‘I wish I could donate a kidney, but I’m too old’,” Dr. Dorry Segev, an associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “What our study says is that if you’re in good health and you’re over 70, you’re not too old to donate a kidney to your child, your spouse, your friend, anybody.”

Segev acknowledged that “it’s better if you have a younger donor. But not everyone has a younger donor. And an older live donor is better than no live donor at all.”

The research looked at records from 219 living people over age 70 who donated a kidney in the United States between 1990 and 2010. The team matched those donors with healthy people in the same age group and found that the donors actually lived longer than those who had both of their kidneys.

More than 90,000 patients are on the waiting list for kidneys from deceased donors in the United States, and many die waiting for an organ to become available. In some parts of the country, the wait for a kidney can be as long as 10 years, and those who can often turn to living donors, both relatives and friends, to ask for organs.

People can function normally with one working kidney.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Medical studies
        

The Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality has been awarded $10 million for a project designed to reduce surgical-site infections and other major complications of colon surgery.

The money comes from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), part of the Department of Health and Human Services. The project is in partnership with the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

Armstrong Institute Director Dr. Peter J. Pronovost, says the work will build modeled on the five-step checklist approach Hopkins developed to reduce bloodstream infections associated with central line catheters in intensive care units.

Checklists are now in place in nearly every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and many nations around the world and is believed to have saved thousands of lives and millions of health care dollars.

"This work will build on our knowledge of how to prevent central-line infections and apply it to the task of preventing surgical-site infections, pneumonia, deep-vein thrombosis and other common surgical complications," Provost said in a statement. "We should be able to repeat that success in other areas." The surgical safety program will begin in 10 states, in at least 10 hospitals in each state. 

 AHRQ has also awarded the Armstrong Institute over $700,000 for an 18-month program to develop and implement the check list system in two states to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia. Once the pilot program shows positive results, the hope is that it, too, could be implemented nationwide.

The Armstrong Institute was established in May with a $10 million gift from C. Michael Armstrong, the chairman of the board of trustees of Johns Hopkins Medicine and retired chairman of Comcast, AT&T, Hughes Electronics and IBM World Trade Corporation. The goal of the institute is to advance the science of reducing preventable harm and to improve health care quality.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 6:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Safety